Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week that staffing issues among air traffic controllers were to blame for 53% of flight delays since the shutdown, now in its 14th day, compared with 5% in normal times.
“(The shutdown) introduces a whole new risk in the air traffic control system, when their focus is now moved from the safety and moving 45,000 planes, 3 million passengers, tons of cargo a day into, ‘Do I have to get another job? Do I have to start driving Uber on the side?’” he said in an interview at Reagan Washington National Airport Tuesday.
“We’re used as the political pawn during the process,“ Daniels said.
Daniels met on Tuesday with Duffy at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland to talk to controllers.
Like many who work in government, controllers are missing two days of pay in the check they receive Tuesday and will not get any paycheck on October 28 if the budget standoff is not concluded.
Air traffic has already slowed at times in some cities, as many air traffic controllers called in sick, roiling air travelers.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been facing an air traffic controller staffing shortage for more than a decade, and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels.
Daniels said the Transportation Department clarified controllers will get paid for sick time for which they are legally entitled during the shutdown, once it ends.
Duffy has urged controllers to keep working. Officials said staffing issues did not pose a significant issue over a three-day U.S. holiday weekend that just ended. - Reuters
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